I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved method and apparatus for high data rate CDMA wireless communication.
II. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems including cellular, satellite and point to point communication systems use a wireless link comprised of a modulated radio frequency (RF) signal to transmit data between two systems. The use of a wireless link is desirable for a variety of reasons including increased mobility and reduced infrastructure requirements when compared to wire line communication systems. One drawback of using a wireless link is the limited amount of communication capacity that results from the limited amount of available RF bandwidth. This limited communication capacity is in contrast to wire based communication systems where additional capacity can be added by installing additional wire line connections.
Recognizing the limited nature of RF bandwidth, various signal processing techniques have been developed for increasing the efficiency with which wireless communication systems utilize the available RF bandwidth. One widely accepted example of such a bandwidth efficient signal processing technique is the IS-95 over the air interface standard and its derivatives such as IS-95-A (referred to hereafter collectively as the IS-95 standard) promulgated by the telecommunication industry association (TIA) and used primarily within cellular telecommunications systems. The IS-95 standard incorporates code division multiple access (CDMA) signal modulation techniques to conduct multiple communications simultaneously over the same RF bandwidth. When combined with comprehensive power control, conducting multiple communications over the same bandwidth increases the total number of calls and other communications that can be conducted in a wireless communication system by, among other things, increasing the frequency reuse in comparison to other wireless telecommunication technologies. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled xe2x80x9cSPREAD SPECTRUM COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERSxe2x80x9d, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled xe2x80x9cSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SIGNAL WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEMxe2x80x9d, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
FIG. 1 provides a highly simplified illustration of a cellular telephone system configured in accordance with the use of the IS-95 standard. During operation, a set of subscriber units 10a-d conduct wireless communication by establishing one or more RF interfaces with one or more base stations 12a-d using CDMA modulated RF signals. Each RF interface between a base station 12 and a subscriber unit 10 is comprised of a forward link signal transmitted from the base station 12, and a reverse link signal transmitted from the subscriber unit. Using these RF interfaces, a communication with another user is generally conducted by way of mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) 14 and public switch telephone network (PSTN) 16. The links between base stations 12, MTSO 14 and PSTN 16 are usually formed via wire line connections, although the use of additional RF or microwave links is also known.
In accordance with the IS-95 standard each subscriber unit 10 transmits user data via a single channel, non-coherent, reverse link signal at a maximum data rate of 9.6 or 14.4 kbits/sec depending on which rate set from a set of rate sets is selected. A non-coherent link is one in which phase information is not utilized by the received system. A coherent link is one in which the receiver exploits knowledge of the carrier signals phase during processing. The phase information typically takes the form of a pilot signal, but can also be estimated from the data transmitted. The IS-95 standard calls for a set of sixty four Walsh codes, each comprised of sixty four chips, to be used for the forward link.
The use of a single channel, non-coherent, reverse link signal having a maximum data rate of 9.6 of 14.4 kbits/sec as specified by IS-95 is well suited for a wireless cellular telephone system in which the typical communication involves the transmission of digitized voice or lower rate digital data such a facsimile. A non-coherent reverse link was selected because, in a system in which up to 80 subscriber units 10 may communicate with a base station 12 for each 1.2288 MHz of bandwidth allocated, providing the necessary pilot data in the transmission from each subscriber unit 10 would substantially increase the degree to which a set of subscriber units 10 interfere with one another. Also, at data rates of 9.6 or 14.4 kbits/sec, the ratio of the transmit power of any pilot data to the user data would be significant, and therefore also increase inter-subscriber unit interference. The use of a single channel reverse link signal was chosen because engaging in only one type of communication at a time is consistent with the use of wireline telephones, the paradigm on which current wireless cellular communications is based. Also, the complexity of processing a single channel is less than that associated with processing multiple channels.
As digital communications progress, the demand for wireless transmission of data for applications such as interactive file browsing and video teleconferencing is anticipated to increase substantially. This increase will transform the way in which wireless communications systems are used, and the conditions under which the associated RF interfaces are conducted. In particular, data will be transmitted at higher maximum rates and with a greater variety of possible rates. Also, more reliable transmission may become necessary as errors in the transmission of data are less tolerable than errors in the transmission of audio information. Additionally, the increased number of data types will create a need to transmit multiple types of data simultaneously. For example, it may be necessary to exchange a data file while maintaining an audio or video interface. Also, as the rate of transmission from a subscriber unit increases the number of subscriber units 10 communicating with a base station 12 per amount of RF bandwidth will decrease, as the higher data transmission rates will cause the data processing capacity of the base station to be reached with fewer subscriber units 10. In some instances, the current IS-95 reverse link may not be ideally suited for all these changes. Therefore, the present invention is related to providing a higher data rate, bandwidth efficient, CDMA interface over which multiple types of communication can be performed.
A novel and improved method and apparatus for high rate CDMA wireless communication is described. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a set of individually gain adjusted subscriber channels are formed via the use of a set of orthogonal subchannel codes having a small number of PN spreading chips per orthogonal waveform period. Data to be transmitted via one of the transmit channels is low code rate error correction encoded and sequence repeated before being modulated with one of the subchannel codes, gain adjusted, and summed with data modulated using the other subchannel codes. The resulting summed data is modulated using a user long code and a pseudorandom spreading code (PN code) and upconverted for transmission. The use of the short orthogonal codes provides interference suppression while still allowing extensive error correction coding and repetition for time diversity to overcome the Raleigh fading commonly experienced in terrestrial wireless systems. In the exemplary embodiment of the invention provided, the set of sub-channel codes are comprised of four Walsh codes, each orthogonal to the remaining set and four chips in duration. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, two of the subscriber channel channels are multiplexed into a single traffic channel. The use of fewer traffic channels is preferred as it allows a smaller peak-to-average transmit power ratio. The use of different numbers of traffic channels is consistent with the invention.
In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, pilot data is transmitted via a first one of the transmit channels and power control and other frame-by-frame control data are transmitted via a second transmit channel. In a preferred embodiment, the information on the pilot channel and the control subscriber channel, which includes the power control and frame-by-frame control data, are multiplex together onto one traffic channel to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio while still allowing for a continuous transmission. A continuous transmission is very desirable because it minimizes the possible interference with personal electronic equipment such as hearing aids and pacemakers. Since the pilot and control data are always transmitted, the resulting signal is still continuous. The other traffic channels are typically only active when the data of the type of that traffic channel is active. If the control data were multiplexed with a subscriber channel other than the pilot subscriber channel, the resulting traffic channel waveform would be discontinuous when the original traffic channel data is inactive. The other subscriber traffic channels could also be multiplexed into a single transmit channel. Two separate subscriber traffic channels are used here to allow for different gains and frame retransmission approaches for different types of traffic. The remaining two transmit channels are used for transmitting non-specified digital data including user data or signaling data, or both. In the exemplary embodiment, one of the two non-specified transmit channels is configured for BPSK modulation and the other for QPSK modulation. This is done to illustrate the versatility of the system. Both channels could be BPSK modulated or QPSK modulated in alternative embodiments of the invention.
Before modulation, the non-specified data is encoded where that encoding includes cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generation, convolutional encoding, interleaving, selective sequence repeating and BPSK or QPSK mapping. By varying the amount of repeating performed, and not restricting the amount of repeating to an integer number of symbol sequences, a wide variety of transmission rates including high data rates can be achieved. Furthermore, higher data rates can also be achieved by transmitting data simultaneously over both non-specified transmit channels. Also, by frequently updating the gain adjust performed on each transmit channel, the total transmit power used by the transmit system may be kept to a minimum such that the interference generated between multiple transmit systems is minimized, thereby increasing the overall system capacity.